Conspiracy
by The Invisible Fan
Summary: Avalanche conspires against Cloud, forcing him to to take unusual measures to try to get his deliveries done on time.


A/N: This story has been sitting on my computer for a while, but I never got around to posting it. The shelf was the inspiration for the story and the rest kind of grew from that.

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7.

OOO

**Conspiracy**

OOO

Cloud scanned the shelves of the garage. His motorcycle had begun making some rather distressing noises before finally refusing to start. Cid's voicemail claimed he had dropped off the part earlier that morning, but Cloud had yet to find it. Cid normally just dropped things on the workbench, but as it was covered with the engine that Barret had been repairing, the pilot had picked somewhere else to stash it. Cloud was just about ready to give up and call Cid when he spotted it. The part was up high, on the top shelf.

Cloud reached for the part, but his fingers didn't reach no matter how hard he stretched. He tried jumping a bit to see if he could grab it, but only succeeded in pushing the part further back from the edge.

Cloud swore.

He looked around for the ladder. They had one around here didn't they? He remembered seeing one just this morning was when Tifa- when Tifa had taken it to help Yuffie paint the new recreation center. He sighed. A quick search confirmed that the stepstool was gone too.

Cloud tried to climb the shelf, but it wobbled badly, forcing him to give up that course of action. The ceiling was too low to attempt jumping up on the shelf. The rickety thing would probably collapse out of spite anyway.

Cloud glared at the shelf. The shelf stood there mockingly. He restrained the urge to punch it. Tifa would kill him if he broke the shelf.

Cid was probably sitting back, drinking his tea and laughing his head off. There were plenty of places to put the part that weren't out of reach.

Cloud turned and strode out of the garage and into the bar, gritting his teeth. There was no choice. He'd have to stand on a chair. He froze in the doorway. All the chairs were gone.

What the…?

The bar was closed, but there was no reason for the chairs to have vanished. He pulled out his PHS and quickly dialed.

"Tifa, why are all the chairs in the bar gone?" he asked before she was able to get a word out.

"Barret borrowed them. They're having some sort of conference and needed extras. The bar was going to be closed anyway, so I didn't see the harm."

Cloud stared at the PHS as if it were conspiring against him.

"Sorry to worry you," Tifa apologized.

It was just bad timing, he told himself. Tifa wouldn't have done it on purpose; she had no way of knowing Cid would put the part on the top shelf. He let out a long sigh. "How long are you and Yuffie going to be painting?"

"We're going to get as much done as we can today, but we'll most likely have to finish it up tomorrow." She sounded amused. "Did you need something?" He heard Yuffie giggling in the background.

"No." He hung up. There had to be something in the garage he could stand on.

His search proved futile.

The boxes were either cardboard or not strong enough for anyone but a child. He was considering trying to shake the part down when a thought struck him. He hurried up stairs before returning with his old magnetic sword harness. The part was metal, the magnet was strong enough and the shelf's one saving grace was that it was made of wood. It had to work.

Holding the magnetic sword harness by the straps he flipped it up onto the shelf. The part stuck with a satisfying click. Relived, he pulled it down into his hands.

Cloud stared at the part in disbelief. Cursing, Cloud pulled out his PHS once again.

"Hey kid, find the part?"

"It's the wrong part." Cloud fought to keep his voice steady.

"Really? I musta grabbed the wrong one by mistake. I can bring the right one by tomorrow." Cid sounded less than apologetic. There was some familiar giggling in the background.

"I need that part to make deliveries."

"Take a day off."

Cloud slammed his PHS shut. They were all in on it.

The time beamed cheerily out from the phone. Of all the days they had to pick, they picked this one. He still had deliveries that had to be made today, the client had paid extra for the rush and now he had no transportation.

"Kweh?" The bright yellow head of a chocobo poked through the open door of the garage. The it tilted its head curiously at him.

Maybe he could still finish his deliveries after all.

OOO

Despite the time it took to get to the chocobo farm for his gold chocobo, he still managed to make his delivery by evening. He had forgotten how fast his chocobos were. They weren't nearly as fast as his motorcycle, but they were well bred racing birds and unlikely to be sabotaged by well meaning friends.

Choco knew the way back to the chocobo farm well enough that Cloud was able to doze a bit in the saddle. Maybe he should train the bird to think of Seventh Heaven as home.

His PHS rang.

"Cloud! Where are you?" Yuffie's voice rang out.

"Deliveries. Where else?" He gave the chocobo an affectionate scratch.

"But your motocycle—"

"Isn't the only way to get around."

"You walked?!"

"No."

"Cloud you can't hitchhike! That's not safe!"

"I didn't hitchhike. I'm fine."

"You were supposed to take a day off! You've been working yourself to death!"

"So it was your idea then?"

"What idea? I have no clue what you're talking about!"

"I heard you giggling."

Yuffie muttered something about people with freaky hearing before finally replying. "I convinced Cid to switch the parts. So what? None of us thought it'd take you that long to find out."

"Wark!"

"Is that a chocobo?"

"No, it's a Zolom," Cloud deadpanned.

"You're not getting back into raising chocobos again are you? Because having those things running all over the place once was bad enough!" For some unfathomable reason Yuffie didn't share his fondness for the birds.

Cloud smirked. "Actually, I was planning on building a stable."

Yuffie groaned.


End file.
